Today I would like to look at an interesting study on Deuteronomy 4:29. Let’s begin with the text which reads:
But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 4:29 NKJV
There is an “If” in this passage that gives me pause. It seems to imply that the search for God is primarily initiated by our own desires. However I believe there is more to this thought from Moses. I am greatly indebted to the following YouTube Channel watch for the initial direction of this blog. Please check out the channel’s video for an in depth study of the passage.
Now returning to our study it is important to note that while the “If” is present in Deuteronomy 4:29 it is not in the parallel passage of Jeremiah 29:13 which says:
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NKJV
Both contexts are the same. Both are talking about what would happen to the Israelites after and because of their exile. Moses writes in Deuteronomy 4:25-28:
25 “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. Deuteronomy 4:25-28
The Israelites would do all of these things after the death of Moses. Moses later repeats this succinctly saying:
29 For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.” Deuteronomy 31:29
In this repeated warning we find a possible additional application to God’s people at the end times. Notice that Moses says latter days. But of course the original context is the events leading up to and through the exile which will cause the people to return to God. This is why Jeremiah writes:
10 For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:10-13
So in essence because God shows mercy and love and favor once again to a people that have been rebellious and idolatrous they will respond with a whole-hearted search for Him. It is not an if then but a when.
The same is true for us. When we endure chastening that come as the results of our rebellion and idolatry, God will also show mercy on us just as He did the ancient Israelites. And when He shows favor to us once again in the latter days we will respond with a a whole hearted search for Him and we will find Him.
The point then of Deuteronomy 4:29 is not that we will find God "If" we search for Him but that we "will" search for Him in response to His goodness.
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